The present invention concerns a novel electronic control circuit for controlling the operation of pinball machine flippers.
Conventional pinball flipper circuitry utilizes a dual-winding solenoid coil. One winding serves to provide a strong pull on the solenoid core for the power stroke and a second "holding" winding serves to hold the flipper in the actuated position. This arrangement is necessary since a single coil winding has not been considered capable of both high power and continuous operation. When the flipper is at rest, a normally closed "end-of-travel" switch bypasses the holding winding, leaving only the power winding in the circuit. When the flipper is actuated, the power winding is active throughout the mechanical stroke until, at the end of its travel, the flipper mechanism opens the "end-of-travel" switch and places the low power holding winding in the circuit. This arrangement requires that the flipper switch and "end-of-travel" switch break a high current circuit with resulting arcing and contact wear. The high current levels required also necessitate the use of a relay to enable or disable the flipper circuits under control of the game logic.
It is an object of the present invention to providea flipper control circuit in which high current loads on the switches are eliminated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a flipper control circuit which obviates the need for the dual-winding solenoid coil and relay.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a flipper control circuit which is simple in operation and efficient to manufacture.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.